Musaik – Grenzenlos musizieren (German for Musaik - Making music without boundaries) is a social music project in the Prohlis district of Dresden, Germany. It is run by Musaik – Grenzenlos musizieren e. V. (registered association), which was founded in 2017 and promotes musical and social interaction and combines instrumental lessons with cultural education, district and social work.At Musaik, pupils between the ages of six and sixteen receive free, low-threshold instrumental lessons in an orchestra group up to three times a week. The offer is close to home, without prerequisites and independent of origin, education and socio-economic status of the parents. Neither previous musical training nor an instrument of one's own is required to participate.[1] The teachers are trained instrumental pedagogues who are supported by a social pedagogue and full-time and voluntary staff.
The teaching method of Musaik is inspired by Venezuelan El Sistema. This includes orchestral and ensemble music activities as an agent of development, inclusion and integration; open access for all children and young people; fostering stimulating learning environments that enable children to swiftly progress towards excellence; ensuring high quality teaching that is intensive and joyful, with peer learning and regular performances; and regular, high frequency programme work with three teaching sessions per week.[2]
The Colourstrings method/Kodály method and Relative Solmization form the basis of the teaching. From the beginning, music is played exclusively together in the group. Beginners' lessons are divided into wind, string and percussion sections. Depending on their individual development, the children later become part of the tutti orchestra. Making music together in the symphonic orchestra is the musical goal of the lessons. From the beginning, all children play in the concerts, regardless of whether they have only been with Musaik for two months or two years. Teachers and volunteer instrumentalists support the performances, as do members of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Banda Communale and students of the Heinrich Schütz Conservatory Dresden.
Musaik was founded in 2017 by the instrumental teachers Luise Börner and Deborah Oehler. In the same year, they had returned from Peru, where they accompanied the development of the social music project Arpegio after their artistic-pedagogical studies at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden.[3] Soon after, they initiated Musaik and began to give music lessons outside of school, initially with just a few children and initially in an empty ice cream parlour in a shopping centre in Dresden-Prohlis.[4]
Deborah Oehler won 1st prize in the 2018 University Music Education Competition (Hochschulwettbewerb Musikpädagogik) with Musaik.[5]
In 2023, about 100 children from more than 20 countries of origin continuously learn string and wind instruments as well as percussion and bring their development to the public as an orchestra in several large project presentations per year - complemented by smaller performances in subgroups.[6] [7]
2022, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden donated the prize money of 50,000 euros from the Herbert von Karajan Prize awarded to him to the project.[8]